When Is Love?
by Hwikek
Summary: Neville Samson is a member of INTERPOL. He's been shot at, he's been injured, he's seen people who wanted to kill him. But is he ready to face another challenge, and how can he stay professional when he falls in love with his trainee?
1. Who's Gonna Ride?

Neville waited inside the INTERPOL office. He'd done this before. Every time someone wanted to join the elite SWAT members of INTERPOL he had to teach them. Unlike other SWAT units INTERPOL didn't have formal training grounds, this was due to the composition of the agency. They mostly relied on local SWAT units such as Grenzschutzgruppe 9, Special Air Service commandos, Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, or the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. But they also had their own operatives.

Back when Neville had joined INTERPOL in 1998 it didn't have a SWAT team. After a failed arrest in the year 1999 INTERPOL realized that it couldn't always rely on both the presence and reliability of local SWAT teams. Neville had participated in the attempt. The only reason he was still alive was due to the quality bulletproof vest he had worn. It's Type II protection had kept a .357 magnum from entering directly into his heart.

The requirements for the SWAT members of INTERPOL were not clear. This was mainly due to the fact that INTERPOL agents do not make arrests, they wait for local law enforcement to do that job. INTERPOL President Toshinori Kanemoto eventually managed to come up with an agreement between the member states of the International Police. It was decided that INTERPOL's SWAT team could not be limited by normal policy. These elite members would need to be able to arrest individuals in any of the member states. As a practical matter the SWAT team could not be deployed until it was made certain that local law enforcement could not handle the situation. But this all changed after September 11th 2001.

Ever since that day INTERPOL was able to deploy its elites whenever they were needed, and this change was not well received. Many of the smaller nations were concerned that this would further limit their rights as nation states. Several countries withdrew from the organization. So far the SWAT team had never been deployed. Many were pretty certain that it would never be needed. Neville wasn't so sure. The events of December 12th 1999 were still in his mind.

Neville had joined the INTERPOL Special Weapons and Tactics team when it had been created in 2001. Two years of training, four years of waiting. He had never been called on since the day he joined. Millions of dollars had been spent to train the two hundred INTERPOL SWAT members. Millions more were needed to keep them in shape. Rumors had been circulating for years of the SWAT team being disbanded. Now the option was being seriously considered.

Neville felt as if he had wasted a huge part of his life. Six years down the drain. He had no family, he had few friends, and he had no life outside of the ICPO. There was a mountain of regret weighing down on him. It was almost as if he would never find a way to prove himself. Sure he'd seen his share of dangerous arrests, sure he'd been shot at, and sure he'd been hurt in the line of duty. But he had never been the predator, he was always the prey. Criminals feared the FBI's HRT, they cowered at the name of LAPD SWAT, the words SAS and GIGN caused them to surrender in droves, and INTERPOL? Criminals had never encountered their boys before. No one could say who the loser of a fight would be.

Neville ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. He was thirty four years old. He didn't have a dog, he didn't have a girlfriend, he didn't even know why he kept working. It wasn't like he could just visit his family every weekend. They were dead. Only his friends in the ICPO really cared about him.

The door opened. A woman walked in. Neville had helped to train people before. He'd helped train FBI g-men. He'd shown local French police officers how to fire their pistols. He'd run with the Spetsnaz in Russia. He'd even out shot members of the United States Secret Service. He could handle anything, nothing was too much for him. So why was it that he had this feeling; the feeling that this girl might just be too much to handle?

"Hello," the girl said, "My name is Tomo Takino."

"Neville Samson," they shook hands, "Pleasure to meet you. Why do you want to join SWAT Unit Alpha?"

"It fits my lifestyle," the girl answered, "Fast paced and risky."

"Well that's absolutely the worst response I've ever heard," said Neville, "Still, you might make me eat those words."

"You don't strike me as being French," said Tomo.

"Yeah, well I'm not. I'm an American expatriate. Apparently the world is sick of us."

"What makes you say that?" the girl asked him.

"It doesn't matter," Neville answered, "All that matters is that you need to prove you're SWAT material. Let's go to the range, see if you can shoot."

"What kind of an officer would I be if I couldn't?" asked Tomo.

"Like most officers," Neville replied, "You got a car?"

"Yeah," said Tomo.

"Then we'll take mine," Neville responded, "You can sit in the back or something."

"What?"

"I'm driving," Neville stated, "You can sit in the passenger seat."

"But I have my car," Tomo responded.

"Yeah," said Neville, "so what?"

The receptionist shook her head as Tomo and Neville continued to argue. Everyone in the town of Lyon knew that Neville wasn't a people person. He was often quoted as being the biggest dick outside of a pair of pants. If Tomo had heard that saying before she would agree that it had some validity.

"I'm driving and that's final!" Neville yelled

"The Hell you are!" Tomo wasn't known for giving up easily.

"Let's just walk there," Neville responded, "It'll give us a chance to talk."

"There is no goddamn way that I am walking across this city, just because you don't want me to drive!"

"Fine," said Neville, "Let's take the bus."

Tomo nearly screamed. _What the Hell is his problem? This damn American!_ The man was absolutely impossible.

"You can shove that bus straight up your ass!" Tomo yelled.

"What do want from me?" Neville questioned.

"Um, how about some _respect?_ Or maybe being allowed to drive my own _car?_" said Tomo.

"Nope," said Neville.

It was going to be a long day.


	2. Aiming 101

Neville sat in the passenger's seat of Tomo's car. He was a little pissed. Usually he drove his students around. Now one of his students was driving him around.

Tomo was equally pissed. She drove her Mercedes towards the INTERPOL office in Lyon France. She'd never met an American before and hadn't expected one to be like this. The man next to her was absolutely ridiculous. He expected her to never drive her own car. To never talk back to her instructor even if he said something that was really stupid. And to never, _ever_, consider shouting obscenities at a police officer.

They finally reached the INTERPOL office. Exiting the car Neville opened the door. He closed it just as Tomo tried to walk in. Smacking her face against the glass Tomo fell on her bottom. Neville opened the door.

"Sorry about that."

"You did that on purpose!" screamed Tomo.

"Jesus Christ," Neville whispered to himself, "No one told me that you would be such a prima donna!"

"What the f—?" yelled Tomo, "You slammed the door in my face! You have a tiff if _I_ want to drive _my_ car! If anyone's being a prima donna it's _you!_"

"Let's just grab a handgun and end this," Neville responded. Tomo gulped. "Don't flatter yourself," he responded, "You're not worth going to jail for."

The firing range was indoors. Neville showed his security pass to a guard. The two of them walked to the counter behind which all manner of firearms sat. A man walked up from behind the counter. He carried a large revolver in his hands. His gruff appearance made him appear dangerous. Tomo had a feeling that he and Neville knew each other quite well.

"Oi," said the man, "If it isn't a couple of sheilas who want to learn to shoot."

"I taught you how to shoot you drunken Aussie," Neville responded.

"Humph. I guess you did Yankee, I guess you did."

"Hey," said Tomo, "Who is this guy?"

"Right, where are my manners?" said the Australian, "Name's Alexander." He shook Tomo's hand. "I've known your mate Neville for a couple years. Helped me out with a poacher in Queensland. Bit of an outdoorsman he is, but also a bit of a germaphobe. Queer bloke really, really he is."

"Thanks for making me look bad," said Neville, "How many Fosters have you had since breakfast?"

"Jesus Neville, I don't drink that much. I've got my dignity and all," Alexander whined.

"Just give me a .357," Neville said.

"You never were a talkative bloke. Except when a pump action is in your face. I don't how you ever convinced that guy not to put a slug through your face."

"Yeah," Neville agreed, "I don't know why but when I'm in danger I can be the nicest guy around."

"It's called being a coward," said Alexander.

"Just chug another Foster."

Tomo and Neville walked away from Alexander. The range was empty today. Neville placed six rounds into the cylinder, he then handed the weapon to Tomo. She'd never fired one of these before.

"Okay," said Neville, "Here's your chance to earn my respect. See if you can get all six shots on that target. It's only thirty feet and if you can't do this, then there is no way I'll let you join SWAT."

Neville handed Tomo the gun. She raised it up. Aiming at the target she squeezed the trigger. The bang and the kick of the weapon were more than Tomo expected. BANG! BANG! Tomo fired two more shots, none of them had hit the black circle. She fired one more time, BANG! Another miss.

"Okay," said Neville, "Hold still."

Neville walked over, he grabbed Tomo's hands. He leaned in pushing the revolver up. This made the girl uncomfortable.

"Quit trying to cop a feel!" yelled Tomo.

"Jesus Christ," Neville whispered, "Just hold still." Neville continued to lean in positioning her arms with his hands. Neville stepped back, "Okay," he said, "Fire."

Tomo fired her last two shots. Two holes were punched straight into the middle of the target. She was surprised, but Neville wasn't.

"Okay," said Neville, "Put six more into the cylinder. See if you can hit the target." Neville watched as Tomo continued to fire at the target. She managed to miss six more times. Neville wasn't sure how much longer he could watch this. It had nothing to do with how she was shooting. It had everything to do with what she was shooting. Every time the .357 fired Neville flinched. Even after nine years he still had problems with the weapon.

"Damn it," Tomo whispered.

"Let me see that thing," said Neville.

Tomo handed the revolver to Neville. He loaded six more rounds into the cylinder. Turning it with his hand he raised the weapon. Aiming at the target he fired. BANG! BANG! Neville continued to fire at the target. All of his shots hit the target.

"Did you see what I did?" asked Neville.

"Yeah," said Tomo.

"Then try again."

Tomo and Neville left the firing range. Getting into Tomo's car Neville sat in the passenger's seat again. He looked at the interior. _How does she have a nicer car than me?_ Neville's old '98 Jetta wasn't the same as it had been the day he bought it in Albany.

"Okay," Neville began, "I think we need to work on your shooting. Where do you live?"

"_Excuse me?_"

"What?"

"What is your problem?" asked Tomo.

"I need to know where you," said Neville, "so I can pick you up."

"I can get anywhere on my own," she replied.

"That's not the point," said Neville, "Just tell me."

"No f—ing way. I can just meet you at the INTERPOL office."

"Fine," Neville conceited, "Be there at seven."

Tomo dropped Neville off at the office where she had first met him earlier that day. Opening the left-hand door on his '98 Jetta, Neville climbed into the driver's seat. He drove towards his apartment. Using his keys he opened the front door. Walking over to his kitchen he grabbed a packet of instant noodles.

Neville looked at the small package in his hands. _This is all that I've amounted to_, Neville thought to himself. _Ten years of police work to have instant noodles for dinner every night._ He threw the packet onto the floor. He stomped on it with his foot. He heard the sound of his dinner being crunched beneath his feet. He didn't care, except for the fact that he would need to clean up. _That's the problem with breaking stuff_, Neville thought, _you gotta clean it up afterwards_.


	3. The M3

A man walked out onto the balcony of a large brick building. His face was cruel, his head was shaved down to the scalp. He wore a light grey suit with grey dress pants that touched his black dress shoes. He had a powerful air about him, as if he was a god. Men in black tee shirts stood nearby him, each carrying a MP5 submachine gun. They looked quite formidable, and indeed they were. No one would dare to attack this man, he couldn't be killed. He owned most of the world's illegal animal trades, he'd destroyed all of his competition to reach the top. Anyone who was stupid enough to stand in his way received a single parting gift.

A business man stepped out of a nearby door. He wore a black suit and dark sunglasses. He made his way over to the baldheaded man. After a brief talk they shook hands. The business man walked away, followed by the eyes of the men in the black tee shirts. They didn't stop tracking him until he walked back through the door.

The baldheaded boss strode to the edge of the balcony. He leaned against the brick wall separating him from the valley floor below. Rubbing his head he called to one of his guards.

"Get the car ready," said the boss man, "And call that INTERPOL member we bribed to work for us. Tell him I want to meet him at the place where I go to relax."

The guard nodded his head. He turned around walking towards the door. Before he reached the door though he was stopped, he felt weight on his body. He turned around to see the hand of the boss man on his shoulder.

"Put a gun in the car too. I wanna show this dumbf— what happens when he doesn't do 'is job." The guard looked into his eyes, they might as well have been the gates of Hell for all the sympathy they held. "Make sure you put in my favorite gun, or you won't get the chance to regret it."

The guard nodded quickly before heading through the door. The boss man turned towards the edge of the balcony again. He looked down at the golden fields of grass, at the gentle sway of the green oaks. He smelled the sweet scent of the earth that had been freshly tilled for his garden. But the thoughts in his mind weren't so peaceful. He was a man you didn't want to f— with.

A black BMW pulled up to a lovely lake. Out of the car stepped a man with black hair. His name was Howard Smith. He was an American from New York after working as a member of the NYPD for a few years he joined INTERPOL. But now he also played for another team. He walked up to the other black BMW that was parked near the lake. He saw a man he knew well shooting skeets with a Benelli M3 12 gauge shotgun. Each of his shots easily hit the skeets, turning the orange saucers into dust. Smith knew this was a bad sign.

"Well well, if it isn't my old buddy Smith," said a bald man in a grey suit, "How the Hell are ya?"

"Good, I'm good."

"You sound a little nervous," said the bald man, "Now why would you be nervous?" The man yelled for another skeet to be launched before blasting it with his M3. Smith recoiled at the sound. The man turned in his direction again.

"Oh I see," said the evil man, "You don't like loud noises do you? Gee, that's just too f—ing bad! Pull!" A skeet flew into the air before being disintegrated by the spread of the M3.

"Now listen," said the evil man, "I've got a problem. Some CIA and SASR team is interfering with ops I'm running in Indonesia and the rest of the Pacific. I need you to tell me more about this team. They need to be taken out of the picture, I can't have my live coral shipments delayed by a bunch of pigs. But I know you can help me out here," he continued, "because if you don't…." The evil boss turned towards one of his security guards. "Load the special target," the boss said. The guard walked over to the two of them.

Smith managed to get a good look at the object and he was shocked. The target was a picture frame. In the frame a short red haired woman and a dark brown haired boy stood smiling. Next to them stood a tanned individual with black hair. He smiled at the camera, his white smile seemed friendly. _Jesus Christ_, Smith thought to himself. It was the photo of him and his family that he kept on his desk at work.

"Here, give me that," said the boss man. The guard quickly obeyed him. Smith watched as the man in the grey suit turned towards him. Smith was scared.

"You see this?" asked the evil boss, "Do you know what this is?"

Smith nodded his head.

"Good. Hey!" yelled the boss, "Put this thing in the skeet shooter." One of the guards put the picture frame into the machine. "Alright Smith," the evil boss began. "I'll give you one chance to give me what I want. If you don't follow through…pull!"

The picture frame seemed to shoot out in slow motion. Smith watched as it soared into the air. The happy smiling family spun around in the blue sky. Then it burst into a thousand little pieces. Bits of wood and glass sprayed out in all directions. The material formed arcs as it fell. Smith's heart skipped a beat.

"Well I think that what will happen if you fail is pretty self explanatory." The boss man walked back to his car, placing the M3 into a black carrying case. "You've got a week to tell me who these people are!" yelled the boss man, "If I don't get something satisfactory by then you won't need to worry about a college fund, or a retirement plan."

Smith watched as the boss man and his entourage drove away in the armored BMW. His face was pale, his hands were sweaty. He walked over to where the picture frame had been hit by the M3. Kneeling down he noticed that part of the picture was still intact. He saw his family's smiling faces looking up at him…with holes punched into their paper skulls. Smith peed his pants.


	4. Noticing A Girl

Neville watched as Takino finally managed to hit the target six times in a row. It had taken less time than he had expected, but that didn't bother him at all. He watched as she smiled in triumph, placing the revolver down.

"Good to see that your aim has improved since yesterday," Neville replied, "Now I need you to put a hundred rounds into that target before we leave."

"What?" said Tomo, "It took me forever just to do this!"

"Don't you want to part of SWAT?" questioned Neville, "Hitting a target with the .357 from this distance isn't all that special. Lots of competitive pistol shooters practice hitting it at sixty feet away."

"But we don't even use them!" retorted the wildcat.

"You do have a point there," Neville agreed, "Okay let's switch to a weapon that you'll actually use in a SWAT operation. This is of course the MP5 submachine gun. Have you ever fired a machinegun before?"

"No," Tomo admitted.

"Then you might as well fire one today," Neville responded.

Neville walked into the INTERPOL Lyon office with Tomo close behind. They had finished shooting for the day and had paperwork to finish up. Neville noticed Smith by the water cooler. Smith was one of Neville's good friends they had known each other since Neville were ten years old.

"Hey Smith," said Neville. Smith choked on the water he was drinking. He coughed a couple of times before answering Neville.

"He-hello," Smith coughed.

"Are you alright?" asked Neville.

"Yeah," said Smith, "Yeah I'm just fine."

"That's good," Neville replied, "Me and my trainee need to go finish up some paperwork."

"Bummer," Smith replied.

"How are Karen and Joseph nowadays?" asked Neville. He noticed that Smith paled slightly when their names were mentioned. "Troubles at home?" Neville asked good naturedly.

"You could say that."

"Alright, well take care then." Neville walked on towards his office.

"Who was that?" asked Tomo.

"That was my buddy Smith," Neville responded.

"He's not like Alexander, not at all," said Tomo.

"Well Smith's an American like me. He moved here because his wife Karen, lovely lady, always wanted to visit France. Their son Joseph was born here," Neville concluded.

"How long have you known Smith?" asked Tomo.

"Twenty four years," said Neville, "Twenty four years."

"Long time," replied the wildcat.

"It sure his, he's really a nice man," said Neville, "Nicer than I am anyways. But he seemed a little off didn't he?"

"Probably troubles in bed," Tomo responded, "Those things usually kill relationships."

"No rumor making," said Neville, "it's unbecoming."

"Un-what?" said Tomo.

"You don't know what unbecoming means?" Neville asked Tomo.

"No," Tomo admitted.

"Well it means bad, essentially," said Neville, "Where are you from anyways?"

"Tokyo," Tomo responded.

"I've been there before," said Neville, "It's pretty crowded over there."

"How could it not be? It's the world's largest city," said the wildcat.

"Yeah, I'm not into trivia," Neville replied, "Let's just finish this paperwork."

Tomo and Neville began to work on the official documents that sat on their desks. Smith sat at his own desk thinking about what the evil man, named Leroy, had asked him to do. It had been three days since Leroy had asked him. So far Smith had compiled almost two hundred pages of information about the operatives. But he hadn't been able to find anything on what they were supposed to be doing. He only had four more days to give Leroy the information that he needed. If he couldn't deliver, then he could only hope that he and his family could escape with their lives.

"Okay," said Neville, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure," said Tomo, "At least you're less of a jerk now."

"I was never a jerk," Neville responded.

"Yeah you were."

"Anyways we'll work on shotguns tomorrow. Those are useful in close quarters," Neville stated. He waved good bye to his pupil before opening the door of his car. He drove home in silence.

Tomo opened the door of her Mercedes Benz. Getting inside the car she, like most young women, hooked her iPod up to the speakers of her car. Unlike Neville she didn't drive home in silence. She wasn't that boring.

Smith had finally found the information he needed. This team was known as CORNOIL of all things. There were three special sites that the team used as safe houses. Smith knew that if he gave Leroy this information these people might die. But if he didn't give Leroy the information he and his family _would_ die. That wasn't a chance Smith wanted to take, these commandos could take care of themselves.

"We need to work on using assault rifles," said Neville, "It looks like you don't know how to use one."

"What? I know how to hold one of these babies," Tomo complained.

"No, you don't," said Neville, "You can't even find the safety on it."

"Yes I can," whined Tomo, "isn't it here?"

"No."

Tomo's shoulders slumped. She looked down at the floor.

"Hey!" yelled Neville, "That thing isn't a toy!"

"Huh?" said Tomo.

"You're pointing it at your own foot!"

"Oh my god!" screamed Tomo, "You're right!" She lifted the weapon up, pointing it away from her body. "That could have been really bad."

"How? It's not loaded," said Neville.

"I know, that's why I said could have," Tomo responded.

"The safety is right here," said Neville pointing to the fire selector with his index finger.

"Okay," said Tomo, "Now I can use full auto to smoke that target!" she screamed.

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" screamed Neville.

"Why not?" Tomo whined, "I already know that I need to fire in bursts!"

"If you go full auto you'll use up ammo a lot faster. Semi automatic fire will give you thirty trigger pulls. Only use fully automatic fire to suppress hostiles." Neville wasn't into the idea of spray and pray.

"You let me use bursts with the MP5," Tomo commented, "Why can't I do that with the M4A1?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I'd have to say it does," Tomo responded.

Neville had a strange feeling. As he looked at the young woman in front of him Neville noticed strange things. He noticed that she had bright eyes. He saw that she had an interesting personality. He noticed that she had…curves. _What the Hell_, Neville thought to himself. He'd never trained a female student before, and now he was becoming attracted to her. _God damn it Neville. Stay professional!_

Tomo gave Neville a confused look. Neville knew that he would have to give her an answer. He couldn't just stare at her like this forever. Though he really wouldn't mind having to do that a little while longer.

"Look," said Neville, "the 9mm Parabellum and the 5.56mm NATO are different. The 9mm while larger at the tip doesn't penetrate nearly as far. A 5.56mm NATO pierces cinderblocks with ease. A 9mm Parabellum can't do that."

"Collateral damage?" asked Tomo.

"Yeah," said Neville, "As an officer of the law you don't want to kill innocent people. In fact you don't want to kill people if you don't have to, but in this line of work that's not always possible."

"So that's why I can't practice with the M4A1 in full auto?"

"Yeah," said Neville.

Neville still couldn't help looking at her. _Damn it_, thought Neville, _Am I really that desperate? This girl is ten years younger than I am!_ _Still_, thought Neville, _she is kinda cute_. Neville figured that he would need to talk to Smith about this later.

"That's pretty interesting," Smith said to his friend Neville. Tomo had left for the day since Neville had proclaimed her to be "good enough" with the M4A1. "But I'm not so surprised," Smith stated, "After all the messes you've had in relationships I can see why you're expanding your net."

"I guess," Neville mumbled, he hadn't thought about his past too much. Especially his past love life.

"You might not want to tell her this though."

"Yeah Howard," Neville agreed, "I'll try to keep this thing under raps."

"Yeah, we all have problems sometimes," Smith said, "You just have to learn how to deal with them."

"How are your problems?" Neville asked.

"Not as bad as yours my friend," Smith replied.

"Do you think it would work?" Neville desperately asked.

"I'm not the guy to ask," said Smith, "I don't know this girl."

"Well I guess I can't ask anyone that question then," Neville responded, "How do Japanese people learn English anyways?"

"Rosetta Stone?" Smith had as much knowledge on the subject as Neville.

"Not that it matters," Neville said.

"Alright, well I'd better get going," said Smith.

"Oh, why?" Neville asked.

"Karen wants me to pick up some things at the store before I come home," Smith lied, "She's busy helping Joseph with his math homework. These damn French schools expect kids to learn something," he laughed, "We never had that problem in America did we?"

"Nope," said Neville, "But then again we were in a pretty ghetto area."

"Yeah, that's true." Smith got up and headed towards the door. "See ya tomorrow buddy."

"See ya," said Neville. _He's a good guy_, Neville thought to himself. _I'm glad to have him as a friend_.

Smith pulled out of the parking lot. Every so often he checked his rearview mirror to make sure no one was following him. Smith eventually reached the drop off. A man stood next to a cafe in a business suit. Smith headed into the coffee shop running his hand against one of the windows, leaving behind a black flash drive. The man in the business suit pocketed it before disappearing. Smith sighed with relief, he and his family were safe for now. _But for how long?_


	5. Awkward Moment Or Lucky Break?

Neville had known Tomo for almost two months now. During that time his attraction to her had grown. While he had tried to keep it platonic, he couldn't help noticing her in _different_ ways than he had noticed his other students. _Why is this happening?_

Neville began to think about his past. He hadn't had much success in his life. Every time he had met someone he liked it hadn't worked out. The woman he proposed to had turned him down because she said he wasn't "rich enough". He didn't even have that much success at his job. Despite his abilities he'd never moved up since 2005. Even when he was younger his career hadn't been particularly well off. Especially when he had taken part in the failed arrest attempt on a man in Africa.

The man wasn't particularly well known. In fact he had only come to the attention of INTERPOL because of the fact that he had smuggled an ounce of cocaine across three countries before selling it. The office in Sierra Leone was pretty sure that this would be an easy job.

When Neville and the other four officers arrived at the house they were completely unprepared for what they had encountered. There were twelve men inside the house, all of them carrying automatic rifles. When one of the officers kicked the door down he was blown apart by a 12 gauge shotgun. Three of the men inside the house had then rushed out into the streets. One of them fired his AK 47 at Neville's group, hitting one the officers in the head. Another man fired an Uzi submachine gun at them, killing two more officers. Neville and the only man still alive ran away. As they tried to escape Neville heard a handgun go off. He felt a punch on his back that knocked him to his feet. The man next to him wasn't so lucky.

Neville laid there for hours. He was just trying not to move so the other men wouldn't blow his brains out of his head. He'd wet his pants when he'd heard someone load a round. By hour number three he began crawling to the street corner. Once he reached the safety of the wall he'd stopped. He looked at his back, he noticed that a round was stuck into his ballistic vest, right next to his heart. Neville recognized the round immediately. It belonged to a .357 magnum, his favorite weapon. His grampa had taught him to shoot it. Some of his fondest memories were times that he and his grampa had practiced shooting revolvers at targets. Now that same weapon that he'd thought of as a friend had nearly killed him. Neville called for backup, by the time it arrived the house was empty.

"Hey," said Tomo, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Neville lied, "I'm fine."

"Well you look pale," said Tomo. She gave him a worried look. "Do you think you're sick or something?"

"Yeah, I've probably just got a cold." Neville turned away from his pupil. He started to walk towards his car.

"Where are you going?" yelled Tomo.

"Nowhere!" Neville yelled back, "I'm just going for a drive. You can come with me if you'd like!"

"But we're supposed to be practicing!" she yelled.

"Actually a drive would be a good way to practice," said Neville, "I can see how well you react in the real world."

"We never left the real world!" yelled Tomo.

"Suit yourself!" Neville yelled back, "I get paid either way!"

"Damn it!" said Tomo. She followed Neville to his car. "Why do we have to ride in your hunk of junk anyways?" asked Tomo.

"I told you that you should never talk back to your instructor," said Neville, "Isn't that standard Japanese tradition?"

"I'm not _in_ Japan," said Tomo, "I'm in _Europe_, and here you can call someone a douche if you damn well feel like it!"  
"Then I suggest that you shut up," Neville responded.

Tomo was surprised. Despite constantly berating him, Neville had never said something like that to her before. It was a change…an enjoyable change.

Neville stopped his car in an odd location. In the middle of the ghetto. He got out of the car before walking towards a large fountain.

Getting out of the car Tomo spoke. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just relaxing," said Neville, sitting down on a bench that resided next to the fountain. "I don't relax very often you know."

"Yeah," said Tomo, "You're always so strict and controlling. You really aren't that fun to be around."

"Don't annoy the guy with the gun," said Neville, "It's one of those unspoken rules."

"You're not the only one on this planet who's packin' heat," said Tomo. She opened up the left side of her jacket to reveal an HK 45 pistol. "But I guess you are a _little_ better with these things than I am."

"Yeah, that's for damn sure," said Neville. Tomo sat down on the bench beside him. Neville felt a little nervous, but the feeling soon passed. It was relaxing to just sit here and not say anything. The shade of the nearby buildings was cool compared to the summer air.

"How did you find this place anyways?" asked Takino.

"I once came here before with a suspect," said Neville, "He knocked me into this fountain and got away. I've seen him since then, in fact so have you."

"Really?" asked Tomo.

"Didn't you meet Alexander?" Neville asked her.

"I thought you met him in Australia."

"You'd think so but I actually met him here in Lyon. He wasn't as fat then I'll tell you that much," Neville stated.

. She yawned, stretching her arms back over her head. Leaning back she started to lose her balance. She then fell into the fountain with a splash. Neville tried to pull her out of the fountain but lost his footing on the slippery cobbles. He fell into the water on top of Tomo. Neville raised his submerged head out of the water. As his head rose out of the water it bumped against the bowl of the fountain. Rubbing his head with one of his hands he looked up with his eyes, straight into Tomo's face.

They were soaking wet with water. Neville noticed that his left hand was touching her arm. _We can't be that far apart_, thought Neville. _Her eyes are too big_. He gazed into the brown eyes in front of him. Though they were usually nonchalant they looked different to him right now. They almost seemed to be inviting him. He felt her hand touch his face, pulling his closer. Neville panicked. He backed away from her before rushing out of the fountain. Tomo watched him leave. She was stunned.

Neville walked away from the fountain. He didn't want to think about what had just happened. He didn't want to think about how he'd felt her body beneath his. He wanted to get her big brown beautiful eyes out his head. And he most certainly didn't want to think about how good it had felt to have her soft hand touch his face. He couldn't do that if was nearby her.

Suddenly Neville felt pain. He couldn't see, his vision was blurry. He felt his arms being held back. His coat was being frisked by nimble hands. He was being robbed, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

"STOP!"

Neville's vision cleared. Neville noticed a man with his back facing him. Both of his hands were in the air.

"Good, now let him go!" The voice Neville heard, it was Tomo's.

Neville felt one of the arms holding him shift. He knew what this meant. Panic took over his mind. He was in Africa again, he could see people being shot in front of him. He'd been scared and helpless then and it was the same way now.

Two bangs of gunfire filled his ears. He fell to the ground. More shots rang out as he saw the man that had held onto him run down the alley. His companion close behind. Neville felt a hand grab his arm and pull him up off of the ground. It was Tomo's.

"You alright?" she asked him.

"What happened?" Neville asked her.

"The guy who was holding on to you tried to pull a gun on me. So I shot it out of his hands."

Neville saw a Glock 18 lying on the ground seven feet in front of him.

"He had a pretty good grip on it," said Tomo, "The first shot didn't quite knock it away, and so I fired another."

"I don't believe it," said Neville.

"Then don't," said Tomo, "What should we do now?"

"I'm going home," said Neville. He was done relaxing for the day.


	6. An Angry Car Ride And Bad News

It had been two weeks since Neville had been mugged. Two weeks since he had fallen into that fountain. He still wasn't sure about his feelings. When he'd been so close to Tomo he had fled. Yet he didn't know why. There was some part of him that was just too uncomfortable with the idea of falling in love. He wished that part of him never existed.

Tomo was unsure about that incident too. When Neville had fallen on top of her it felt awkward, but a good kind of awkward. Neville had been impossible to deal with when she had first met him. Back then he was just that mean instructor she had to deal with. But over the past month Neville had changed. He was friendlier, more outgoing, and more open to her snappy remarks. When she saw that his face was so close to her in the fountain, she'd wanted to kiss him. But then he ran away. She hadn't lied about shooting the G18 out of the mugger's hand. Something had just taken over at that moment. When Neville had been in danger she was just so much more…serious. It was really a strange phenomenon.

The two of them sat in Neville's car, waiting for the light to change. This silence had come over Neville ever since the incident in the fountain. He hadn't been particularly talkative before, but now he might as well have been a statue. The damn light was still red when Tomo decided to speak.

"So," Tomo began, "About that time we—"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Neville interrupted, "I don't want to talk about it!"

"Why?" said Tomo.

"Let's just try to stay professional," said Neville, "That way we can work together."

"Yeah 'cause being professional all the time is _really great!_" snapped Tomo, "Just shut out all of your feelings all the time to stay 'professional'." She made gestures with her hands.

_Always so dramtic_, Neville thought to himself. "Just let it go. You never let things go."

"_I_ don't let things go?" yelled Tomo, "You were the one who had a fit every time I drove myself to the office!"

"I thought we were over that," said Neville, "Besides nothing happened that day. Nothing at all."

"Something would have happened if you weren't such a pussy!" yelled Tomo.

Neville shook his head, he tried to keep his eyes on the road. He wasn't sure if he was mad right now or merely regretful. But Neville knew he wasn't a coward.

"So what if I am?" asked Neville, "What difference does it make?"

"I thought you liked me," said Tomo.

"That's the problem," said Neville, "If I didn't like you we could work together just fine."

"What's wrong with me?" whined Tomo.

"NOTHING!" screamed Neville. His foot slammed on the brakes, but no one else was on the road. "What makes you think I want a relationship anyways?" Neville asked her.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying she who dares wins?" Tomo questioned Neville.

"There is no such saying," said Neville, "because we _never_ win."

"What makes you say that?"

"Okay let me rephrase that," said Neville, "_I _never win. Every time I took a chance I blew it. Every risk I've taken has ultimately backfired on me. When I first met Alexander he knocked me into a fountain because I thought I didn't need to cuff him. When I tried to help arrest someone I watched four Africans die from rounds that pierced their skulls. When I tried to stop a poacher in Australia with Alexander's help my partner was beheaded in front of me with an ax. And when I fell in love with a girl she dumped me simply because I didn't make enough money to fit her tastes."

"But that doesn't mean that you should give up—"

"I've heard that bullshit enough from Smith and Alexander," said Neville, "I don't need to hear it again from some damn Jap!"

At this point Neville began to feel his eyes water. He wasn't sure whether this was from anger or pain. But he didn't care, he just let it out over his steering wheel. Tomo watched as her supposedly tough instructor began to sob on a steering wheel. It was hard to watch, and to listen to.

Neville felt something on his shoulder. It was Tomo's hand. She brushed some of the tears off of his face. He looked into her eyes, they had tears too. She then slapped him in the face.

"That's for calling me a Jap!" she yelled.

Neville and Tomo sat in a local restaurant. Well it was really a Burger King. French fries and Ketchup sat on a plastic tray in front of them.

_Why am I here_, thought Neville,_ I hate Burger King_.

Munching on a Whopper Tomo looked up at Neville who was shoving a French fry into Ketchup repeatedly.

"Why do they call them chips?"

Neville looked up at her.

"What?" he asked.

"I said why do the British call them chips?"

"Don't ask me," said Neville, "I'm just a Jap hating American remember?"

Tomo gave him an evil glare before going on. "Well what do they call them in _super special_ America then?"

"French fries," said Neville, "but then again I think they were first made in England. Kind of like how English muffins were first made in New York."

"Really?" asked Tomo, a fan of English muffins.

"Yeah, though they were created there by an Englishman. Just like pizza was first made by the Chinese."

"You're kidding," said Tomo, "I thought pizza originated in Italy."

"Well the pizza we know today sure did," Neville stated, "But the idea originally began in China."

"So are you going to eat anything or not?" asked Tomo.

Neville looked at the French fry he had been dragging through Ketchup for the past minute or so. He set it down on the tray. He then began to stir the tomato based sauce with another.

"Earth to Neville," said Tomo.

"No," Neville responded.

"No? What the Hell?" said Tomo, "I paid for this! Now you're going to eat the goddamn sandwich you ordered!"

"You're not my mother," said Neville, "Anyways I have a better idea. I'll tell you about the second time I met Alexander."

"After you eat the friggin sandwich," said Tomo, "It was twelve American dollars!"

"Sorry about that," said Neville. He reached across for the sandwich on the table. After taking a bite he began to tell his story.

The second time Neville had met Alexander was in Queensland.

"Where's that?" Tomo interrupted.

"That's in Australia," said Neville.

"Oh okay, um…where's Australia?"

"Didn't they teach you this in school?" asked Neville.

"Probably but I never really paid that much attention," Tomo admitted.

"Well Australia is a continent. It's next to Asia."

"Okay well go on then," said Tomo.

Neville and his partner had been asked to deal with an animal poacher. He had traveled across Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. INTERPOL believed that he was located in Australia, so they sent SWAT officers Neville and Thomas to assist local law enforcement. It was when the two of them arrived in Australia that Neville saw Alexander again, only now he was a police officer.

It was when Neville and Thomas first met local law enforcement agents. When Alexander showed up Neville recognized the man on sight, but Alexander had forgotten who Neville was. When Neville brought up the incident in Lyon Alexander laughed.

"So you were the sheila that I knocked into the fountain eh?"

"It's not funny," Neville had told him.

"Bloody 'ell it is. The look on your face was priceless mate, just priceless! I laughed so 'ard afterwards!"

After this less than formal meeting the law enforcement group received word that the poacher was nearby.

"So we set out to find him," Neville concluded.

"Wait," said Tomo, "I don't get this at all. Twenty minutes ago you were an absolute jerk and now you're nice as can be?"

"What can I say?" asked Neville, "I'm a complicated guy."

"Whatever," said Tomo as she continued to eat her hamburger. After a couple of bites she asked Neville another question. "Was Thomas the partner you had that was decapitated?"

"Not the worst question I've ever heard," Neville said to Tomo, "But it was pretty close."

"Oh, so he was the guy. Sorry," Tomo apologized.

"The poacher decapitated him," said Neville, "Some petty thug ended the life of one of my best friends. You know what the worst part of it was?" Tomo shook her head. "When I chased after the guy he got away from me," Neville responded, "Luckily he was found in the belly of a crocodile not too long after that."

"Why did you see officers killed in Africa?" asked Tomo.

"We tried to arrest a man whose friends were well armed," said Neville. He raised a straw to his lips. "That day is the reason why INTERPOL started its own SWAT team. The man we were sent to arrest, was Joseph Kony. Now he nearly owns all of Africa, he's a very dangerous man."

"I'm surprised you're still alive," said Tomo, "Most people who run into that bastard aren't so lucky."

"Yeah," said Neville, "Let's go home."

Neville turned on his TV. Flipping through the channels he found CNN in English. Tomo walked over to where he sat on the couch with two glasses of water.

"Don't you have any booze?" asked Tomo.

"No," said Neville, "We don't tolerate that in America."

"Bullshit," said Tomo, "Americans get drunk all the time."

"Okay let me rephrase that," said Neville, "_I_ don't tolerate that in America, or any other country for that matter."

"Hey," said Tomo, "What's that?" She pointed towards the TV which read _Gang Shootout In Jakarta_. Neville turned the volume up so he could here it better.

"_Chris Mason of CNN here live in Jakarta. At twelve PM local time here in Jakarta two rival gangs had a large shootout, thousands of rounds were fired and many civilians were killed. One of the gangs used rocket propelled grenades on police vehicles that arrived on the scene. Several officers were killed and many more were wounded. Almost two hundred gang members are dead or wounded, and it seems as if one gang has been completely annihilated!_"

Neville looked at the TV. Horrible images of children lying on the ground could be seen. Mothers cried for the souls of their babies. But Neville noticed something else, while most of the gang members appeared to be local, some were clearly foreign. One of these individuals caught his attention. It was a man he'd seen before. The man he'd trained to be a part of Operation CORNOIL.

Neville abruptly stood up. "We need to get to the INTERPOL office," said Neville.

"How come?"

"Do see that white man there?" Neville pointed at the screen.  
"Yeah," said Tomo.

"Well that man used to be a member of Delta Force," said Neville, "And his job was to stop shipments of illegal animal products. Now he's dead and we need to know why."

"I'm not following you on this one," said Tomo.

"The only way he could have been killed is if someone ratted him out. And the majority of people who knew about this operation are inside the INTERPOL office here in Lyon. If I have to bust a few heads open to find the bastard who killed these men I will," said Neville.

"Why?" asked Tomo.

"Because that man there, he was my brother."


	7. Smith Decides

Tomo drove the two of them towards the INTERPOL office. She noticed that Neville had his eyes on the dashboard. She decided to ask him a question.

"Was he really your brother?"

"Step brother actually," replied Neville, "But he might as well have been brother, we were very close."

"I, I don't know what to say." Tomo felt bad for Neville. She had never experienced something like this before. Yet she knew that this must be painful.

"Don't worry about me," said Neville, "Just focus on the road. I knew my brother might be killed in his line of work. But he's dead now because someone at INTERPOL gave away a lot of information. When we get there I want to know who did it."

"How can you be sure it was someone at the INTERPOL office?" asked Tomo.

"I'm not sure, it's just a hunch. One that I hope is right."

Smith sat at his chair watching the TV. The images of the event in Indonesia shocked Howard. He'd never really seen what happened when he gave Leroy the information before, and he wished that he hadn't seen this. Bodies littered the streets, mothers were crying with the bodies of their children clenched to their chests. Blood and bullet casings covered the nearby streets. The scene was something Smith would never forget, and it was something he never wanted to forget.

He had become a police officer to help people live better lives. He'd tried to make the world a safer place where children could grow up. Now he was doing the opposite. He'd just made sure almost one hundred children would never grow up.

Smith had given Leroy information for years. Now he was wondering what that information had done. _How many other people have I killed?_ Smith had a deep feeling of regret inside of him. He'd liked the money that Leroy had given him for the information. He'd used that money to take his family on vacations, and to start a college fund for little Joseph. But Smith realized that all that money was tainted. It had all been made off of the illegal dealings of one man.

Smith knew he had to stop helping him. If he didn't he would never be able to look himself in the face ever again. When you look into the mirror you have to like the face that you see. And right now, Howard didn't.

Neville stood outside of the INTERPOL office. He stared at the green lawn in front of him. His mind kept showing him images of the times that he and his step brother had lived in New York. Neville wanted these images to go away, but they wouldn't. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone, it was Smith. Neville turned to face his friend, but Smith wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Hey," said Neville, "Is something wrong?"

Smith nodded his head. "Yeah, a lot of things are wrong right now. I just hope I can make them right."

Neville gave his friend Smith a confused look.

"That thing in Jakarta," Smith began, "I was involved."

"How?" asked Neville.

"I gave the names of those people away to a bastard," said Smith.

Neville didn't believe Smith at first, but then he noticed his friend's face. His friend had only made that face once before. And that was the time when Smith had nearly killed his sister when he dared her to swim to a lighthouse and back. Neville was mad.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?"

"What was I supposed to do?" asked Smith, "He threatened to kill my family if I didn't cooperate."

"How did he know to contact you anyways?" Neville asked.

"I've helped this guy before," said Smith, "Now I'm starting to have second thoughts."

"Well it's a little too late for that now," said Neville, "My brother is dead because of you!"

"You think I don't know that?" said Smith, "Do you think it's easy to live with the fact that I helped to murder hundreds of people? Well it's not Neville! It really fucking isn't!"

"I hate you," said Neville.

"I can't blame you," said Smith, "But at least I know where this bastard hides."

"You do?" asked Neville.

"Yeah, the dumb ass lives close to Lyon! Boy is this guy an idiot." Smith looked up at his friend Neville's face. He could see anger there, as well as betrayal. "I can give you the address," said Smith, "But you won't be able to take him down on your own."

"I don't do things alone," said Neville, "Gun toting cowboys died out a long time ago."

"Then who are you gonna take with you?" asked Smith, "Your trainee?"

"Yeah," said Neville, "Yeah, I'll take her with me. She's ready, and I certainly am!"

"You'll both be killed," said Smith, "If you can wait just a little while—"

"Why would I want to wait?" asked Neville, "What difference will it really—"

"If you wait until twelve PM Wednesday I can convince the Prime Minister and the President to bring out Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale," said Smith, "Interested in waiting now?"

"A little bit," Neville admitted. Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale or GIGN was an elite counter terrorism and hostage rescue team that belonged to the French military. Comparable to both US 1st SFOD-D and the British SAS it was well known for the its work. Whether it was helping to regain control of the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia, or liberating Air France Flight 8969, GIGN was a force to be reckoned with. Neville wouldn't mind having their help one bit.

"Okay," said Neville, "But after that I'm turning you in."

"Fair enough," said Smith. They shook hands.

_One day_, thought Neville, _one day till I get to stop this bastard_.

"What did you and Smith talk about?" asked Tomo.

"We need to go back to the range," said Neville, "There are some more things I need to teach you before tomorrow."

"What's so special about Wednesday?" she asked.

"That's the day that we'll get the bastard who scheduled that incident in Jakarta," said Neville.

"We're going to Indonesia?" said Tomo, excited by the possibility of travel.

"No," Neville replied, "That man is here in France, and my friend Smith is going to tell us where he lives. When we find out where he's from we will storm his house, destroy his home, and then, then we will kill him."


	8. Smith In Action

"…So Monsieur President," said Smith over the phone, "Can I get your full support on this issue?"

"_But of course!_" said the French President, "_I would do nothing less to stop such a dangerous criminal!_"

Smith wiped his eyes with his hands, he'd been up for a while. "Thank you Monsieur President. We greatly appreciate your help here at INTERPOL."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries Smith turned off his cell phone. He looked at the clock in his office, it was almost 7 AM. He'd managed to gain the help of GIGN, just like he'd promised his friend Neville. Smith decided that it would be appropriate to take a brief nap.

Opening his eyes Smith noticed the wall clock. _10h15_ the clock read. _It's already 10:15? _ Smith hadn't realized that he'd slept that long. He turned his phone back on before giving Neville a call.

"_Hello?_" Neville answered the call.

"Hey Neville," said Smith.

"What do you want?" asked Neville.

"GIGN wants to meet you before they perform the op. I can give you the location, but only in person. These guys like to be a bit secretive," Smith added.

"Where do you want to meet then?" asked Neville.

"Just drop by the office," said Smith, "I'll give you the information with a slip of paper on it."

"Why'd you call so late anyways?" asked Neville.

"Give me a break," said Smith, "I've been up since yesterday so I took a nap. Then I woke up just now. You'd better hurry here though, they want to meet at 11."

"Yeah," said Neville, "I'll be there soon."

Ten minutes later Neville and Tomo came into Smith's office. They both gave him a suspicious look, he couldn't blame them. He handed Neville a slip of paper, giving him a nod. Neville nodded back before leaving along with Tomo.

After they left Smith's cell phone rang. But this wasn't his normal cell phone. This was the one that Leroy had given him.

"Hello?" he said.

"_Howard!_" said the evil Leroy, "_How the Hell are ya? Just wanted to personally thank you for that information you gave me. Turns out those commandos were pretty tough, they took out all the guys I sent to kill 'em! Yet 'nough of 'em died to block future interference. I'll give you your payment in the usual way—_"

"You can just shove that payment up your ass," said Smith.

"_I'm sorry_," said Leroy, "_But I think my phone is damaged because it sounded like you wanted to f— with me. Or are you really that stupid?_" asked Leroy.

"You can just go to Hell," said Smith.

"_Or I can go to your house and waste your family_," said Leroy, "_I think you know which option I prefer. Good bye_." A dial tone played.

Smith raced to his car. Getting into the driver seat he turned on his BMW. He raced towards his home. But he became stuck in a traffic jam. _Come on, come on, come on!_ Smith wanted to get home. He had to get his family somewhere safe, but where would that be? Certainly not the INTERPOL office, Leroy didn't fear anything. If he had to he would fight the Chinese army, and he had on many occasions, pandas were really valuable on the black market.

As Smith sat in traffic he came up with a plan. The first thing he would do was to load his Uzi submachine gun. It had been a gift from Leroy for all of Smith's help, and he wanted to make that bastard regret giving it to him. With the Uzi in hand Smith would head to the backdoor. That would be his entry point. From there he would head to the kitchen to pick up a large knife. After that he would fight anyone who tried to hurt his son, or his wife, or his friends.

Smith pulled onto the street. Two black vans were parked in front of his house. _Damn it!_ Smith was too late, they were already here. He parked on the end of the block, as far as he could from the house. He opened the trunk before getting out of the car. Keeping close to the side of his car Smith ran around to the trunk. Reaching inside he pulled out a large black duffel bag. Smith proceeded to pull out a ballistic helmet, as well as a Type IIIA ballistic vest with the word POLICE on it. After putting on the body armor Smith reached into the bag to pull out a black box. Now he was ready to get his house back.

Smith rushed towards the back of his house. He noticed two men standing near the backdoor carrying MP5 submachine guns. Smith raised his silenced Uzi and fired off two bursts. Stepping over the bodies Smith entered directly into the living room.

He ducked behind the couch. After a few seconds he looked around the corner of the couch. No one was there. Closing the backdoor with his foot Smith edged around the couch. Nothing. He had never expected this. No one was going to stop him?

He took two steps into the kitchen. Screams could be heard in the distance. _They're still alive!_ Smith hurried towards the sound of the screams, which came from his bedroom.

Smith looked inside. There were twelve men inside. Smith raised the Uzi. He took aim at the men before firing. The 9mm Parabellum rounds ripped into the unarmored men. Smith heard a click. He ducked back behind the wall. Reaching into his vest he pulled out another clip for his Uzi.

Rounds ripped into the section of wall next to him. Smith wished that he had asked Neville and that trainee to come along. Smith had never experienced this before. He hoped he never would again. The sound was deafening, he should have brought some ear protection. He could feel the splinters of wood hit his face.

Then there was silence. When the rounds stopped Smith rushed through the doorway. He sprayed his submachine gun at the remaining men. He quickly leaped behind the bed. Rounds perforated the air that his body had just passed through. Smith fired the Uzi in the general direction of the enemy. He heard another click. He reached for another magazine.

He looked around the side of the bed. Seven of the men were still standing. Smith fired rounds at the group. They weren't the best at firefights before they came into Smith's house. And they would never be good at firefights afterwards.

The sight inside the master bedroom was quite horrible. Blood covered the carpet. Men lay dead or dying all around. Smith checked to make sure that their MP5s weren't nearby. One of the men moved towards his weapon. Smith shot his remaining rounds into the man's chest. The hitman stopped moving.

Karen and Joseph lied near the sliding glass doors. Karen laid there with her head opened up. Joseph lay next to her, several red marks in his tee shirt. Seeing the sight nearly made Smith vomit, but he noticed that Joseph's arm moved slightly.

"Dad?" said a faint voice.

"Don't worry Joseph," said Smith, "Daddy's here. I'll make everything better."

"Daddy?"

"Yes Joseph?" Smith was fumbling with his vest trying to find his cell phone to call for an ambulance.

"Who's that man behind you?"

BANG!

Smith fell on top of his son Joseph, killing him. Smith's head was gone, thanks to Leroy's M3. Leroy was pissed. He'd wasted almost a million euros on those twelve men. He left the Smith house. Lighting it on fire on his way out.


	9. Preparation

As they left the INTERPOL office Tomo could have sworn that she heard Smith talking to someone. As they drove off she swore that she could see Smith pulling onto the road in his BMW. But Neville didn't believe her. He was simply focused on meeting with GIGN so that he could destroy the man who had killed his brother.

At 10:58 Neville and Tomo arrived at the location. They got out of the car.

"Where are they?" asked Tomo.

"I have no idea," said Neville.

Neville looked at the note again. There were further instructions on the paper that Smith had given them. After reading them out loud Neville opened up the first three buttons of his coat, and Tomo unzipped her coat pockets. A door opened up in front of them. They walked in to see a man in black assault clothing with the word POLICE on his chest.

"Monsieur Samson, it is good to meet you," said the man.

"Like wise," said Neville.

"And you are Mademoiselle?"

"Takino, my name is Takino."

"I take it you are the 'trainee' we were told about?" asked the man.

"Yes," said Tomo, "Yes I am."

"Excellent," the man said, "Since you two are on time we can begin planning the assault, yes?"

"Of course," said Neville.

As the man walked away Tomo spoke up.

"His English is good," Tomo commented.

"Better than yours," Neville replied.

"F— off," said Tomo.

The building they had entered looked old and decrepit. Twenty or so individuals waited inside the room for them. They all wore black body armor. All of them seemed to look at one man. Whenever he said something all heads turned in his direction. Whenever he moved all eyes followed even the tips of his fingers. Neville knew that he must be the one in charge. But he wasn't sure about who this man was.

The lead commando looked at Neville. He removed the mask that covered face. Neville recognized the man instantly. He was an old friend.

"Henri!" said Neville, "How have you been?"

"I've been fine Neville," said Henri, "My wife and I just celebrated the third birthday of our little girl. But it sounds as though you have not been so fortunate."

Neville looked down. The image of his step brother dead on the ground made him shudder inside. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," said Henri, "From what our friend Smith told me the man who scheduled the attack is inside that mansion. He will not escape, you have my word."

"Thanks," said Neville, "So what's the plan?"

"All 380 members of GIGN will either take part in this mission or are on standby incase we need their assistance," said Henri, "Team 4 will create a perimeter around the mansion by 14h30. After that a Fennec utility helicopter will be a part of the perimeter guard. When the perimeter Teams 1, 2, and 3 will breach the outer wall of the compound and capture the fugitive." Henri walked over to a blueprint of the site. "We are Team 3 and we will enter through this section of the outer wall. Once that has been secured Team 5 will deploy through the use of an AS 532 Cougar. When Teams 1, 2, 3, and 5 are ready we will storm the house itself. After that the four teams will split up and sweep different areas of the mansion. If it is possible keep suspects alive, we may need them later. If GIGN is not enough INTERPOL's SWAT members are ready to deploy as well. It seems Howard really pulled out all the stops for us," said Henri, "There is even a second Fennec in case the first one is shot down."

"Yeah," said Neville, "I guess he really came through for us."

"Why wouldn't he?" asked Henri, "He would certainly want to keep this criminal from doing any more harm. I don't think Howard could stand such a person, he is so soft hearted and kind."

"We need to talk later," said Neville, "Where's our gear?"  
"If you would just follow me," said Henri gesturing to Neville and Tomo, "I will take you to our supply closet."

Tomo followed Neville and Henri. She was surprised that he had known a French commando. Was there any SWAT team he was unfamiliar with? It certainly didn't seem that way. Henri and Neville stopped in front of Tomo. The room they walked into next shocked Tomo.

Everything was black in here. From the body armor, to the magazines, to the weapons. Almost a thousand different firearms sat on racks around her. There were pistols, there were shotguns, there were machinepistols, she even saw an anti-tank missle launcher. It was clear, at least to her, that GIGN was well sponsored.

"Before we leave for the location," said Henri, "I will need you two to get into protective body armor. After that you may grab your equipment and meet me in the mainroom." Henri walked away from the two of them. Closing the door behind him.

"Grab two of those vests over there," said Neville.

"Ooph these are heavy!" said Tomo.

"Just put one on and give me the other one."

"Um, I can't with you watching."

"Jesus Tomo," said Neville, "You do know how to put one on right? We went over it for a week."

"No wait, I remember now."

Neville shook his head as the trainee handed him the bullet resistant armor. Neville suited up, he turned to see how Tomo was doing. He was not impressed.

"You wore a heavier vest than that for two three months," said Neville, "How can that one be too heavy?"

"I don't know," said Tomo, "It just is." Repositioning the vest Tomo smiled with satisfaction.

"You're sure that it's not too heavy?"

"Of course I'm sure Neville," Tomo complained.

"Okay, then go grab two helmets."

"Which ones? These over here with the screens or these ones over hear without screens?" asked Tomo.

"The ones without screens," said Neville putting a balaclava over his face. Tomo handed him the helmet. He put it on. He gave his pupil a concerned look.

"Where's your mask?" asked Neville.

"It's not essential is it?" asked Tomo.

"Not essential but—"

"Well that's good 'cause it gets really hot," said Tomo.

"Try to be just a little bit professional, alright?"

"At least I didn't get mugged two weeks ago," said Tomo.

"Are you two almost ready in there?" asked Henri, "We were hoping to leave in ten minutes!"

"Yeah, we'll be there!" said Neville, "Go grab something Tomo."

Tomo walked over to one of the wallracks. Looking at the items available she picked up an assault rifle. Pocketing twelve magazines tomo walked over towards Neville.

"What is that?" asked Neville.

"Isn't it an M4A1?" asked Tomo.

"No, it's different," said Neville.

"I see that you like the HK Mademoiselle." Henri walked up from behind the two of them. "It really is a nice weapon. Despite all the things the Germans do wrong when they do something right, you can't help but love them for it."

"HK?" said Tomo.

"Oui. It is an evolution of the AR 15 and far superior. The reliability itself is phenomenal, I have shot one of these underwater. If I had tried that with an AR 15 it would have blown up in my face. It seems that you make very good choices Mademoiselle."

"You can shoot this thing underwater?" asked Neville.

"Dip this weapon in mud, sand, water, it does not matter. Think of it as an AK, but one that can actually hit something."

"In that case I'll take one too," said Neville.

As Henri walked away Tomo decided to ask Neville a question.

"Why does he dislike the Germans?"

"It's a French thing," said Neville, "I don't quite get it myself."

The two of them left the room. The GIGN members were waiting for them by one of the doors.

"We will go now," said Henri, "You two can ride in one of the SWAT vehicles."

As the last of the commandos went out the door Tomo grabbed Neville's arm.

"What is it?" Neville asked.

Tomo tried to touch her lips to Neville's at that moment. But she couldn't, something was blocking her shoulders. They were Neville's hands.

"We need to focus," said Neville, "If we're distracted for even a second when we assault the compound we could both lose our lives. Thinking about each other right now is only a distraction."

"How can you be so cold?" asked Tomo.

"I'm not cold," said Neville, "I just do what's practical."


	10. Deus Ex Machina

Neville sat in an armored SWAT vehicle. He looked at the individuals beside him. Each of them held onto their weapons like their lives depended on it. Which they would, but not right now. Despite the tense mood people were still chatting. Next to Neville sat Tomo and a GIGN member. The commando's face was obscured by a black balaclava.

The man turned his head towards Neville. "I've never heard of INTERPOL's SWAT team before," said the man, "What have you guys done?"

"Nothing," said Neville, "At least not as a team. After the SWAT members were trained and their services were not called upon for almost two years, INTERPOL decided to have them assist local law enforcement officers in arrests. This worked out quite well, so more SWAT members were added over the years to assist police officers in other countries. Due to my successes in arresting dangerous criminals I was pulled from the active members of INTERPOL's SWAT team to become an instructor."

"So this girl here is your student?"

"Yeah, she is," said Neville, "But not only do I train individual members I also decide whether they are qualified to join the team. So if they do well in training I give the thumbs up and they get to look tough in front of a camera. Of course before members can be approved for the team they have to have been in some sort of event where a SWAT team was called in."

"Is that why I'm here?" asked Tomo.

"No," said Neville, "You're here because you said you wanted to come along. But if we both live today, it will help convince me that you are ready to be a SWAT officer."

"What more do I need to do?" asked Tomo.

"We'll just have to wait and see."

The armored van continued on its way. The back of the car was well air conditioned to compensate for how hot the ballistic vests made things. Yet Tomo was still uncomfortable due to how closely the ten of them were packed together.

"Hey Neville?"

"Yes Tomo?"

"Why did you flinch each time I fired the .357?" the wildcat asked.

"Because that gun nearly killed me back in Africa," said Neville, "That was the first time I saw somebody die. Ever since that day I can't stand to see or hear a .357 revolver fire."

"Then why did we practice with it? I mean if you hate it so much why bother teaching it to me?"

"Lots of criminals carry .357s around," said Neville, "It has a reputation for having good stopping power and lots of people use it when they go bear hunting. If you ever ran out of ammo and needed to use an enemy weapon, odds are that you would find a .357 lying about."

"So that's why we practiced with the AKs?"

"Yeah, for that same reason. I just hope these guys don't know that we're coming," Neville said.

"If Team 4 set up the perimeter already, then it won't matter," one of the troopers commented. "Even if these guys do try to drive out of there a TOW missile from the Fennec will stop them in their tracks."

"Can't argue with that," said Neville. He stopped worrying about what was going to happen. He leaned back to nap before they got to the mansion.

"Now tell me," said the Team 4 commander, "Have we established a perimeter?"

"Oui Capitaine!" one of the commandos piped up, "We have a one thousand yard perimeter set up just like you wanted."

"Have you seen anyone try to cross the perimeter?" asked the Team leader.

"Non," the man replied.

"Good," said the Capitaine, "The other commandos will show up shortly I believe. Now I will call in the Fennec." The Capitaine looked at the outer wall, it was almost thirty feet high. _A pity that we will smash it down_, the Capitaine thought. _The masonry is quite excellent_.

"_We are nearing the mansion now_," said the driver, "_Get all of your gear ready now, you won't have a chance to do it later_."

Neville slammed a clip into his HK 416. Tomo did as well. Just about all of the GIGN officers were loading HK 416s except for one, she was loading an AA 12.

The car suddenly stopped, slamming on the brakes. The doors flew open. Neville and Tomo rushed out along with the rest of the team. Neville backed up against the armored car. He saw two men aiming MP5s at him from on top of the wall. Raising the 416 to his shoulder he fired off two shots. He watched as the men fell backwards. But more of them appeared forcing Neville to duck.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Neville saw that the other three teams had also deployed. Six SWAT vehicles had their doors wide open. Neville scanned the wall for hostiles. Two more men with machineguns aimed at his head.

BANG!

BANG!

They were no longer a problem.

Tomo was with two GIGN operatives. Despite her training under Neville, she simply wasn't prepared for this event. The sounds and how quickly events moved along were a little too much for her. She just hoped that she would live through this.

A man up on the wall noticed one of the SWAT officers just sitting there. He fired a burst of 9mm rounds. "This is for Mickey!" he screamed.

The rounds hit Tomo in the chest. The punch that the projectiles made was strong, even though she was wearing ballistic armor. Tomo didn't want to find out how much more the vest could take. She sprayed off a burst of 5.56mm NATOs. The man fell backwards, he didn't get back up.

The GIGN operatives next to Tomo were bagging targets left and right. Their Type IIIA body armor was taking the rounds being fired at them, but like Tomo, they didn't want to find out how much more punishment they could withstand.

"Charges planted!" Neville turned his head towards the source of the sound. Two GIGN operatives sat next to a section of wall. They kept scanning the top of the wall, no one.

"_BASTION!_" the radio yelled. That was the signal to start the fireworks show. Neville braced himself for the impact.

The high explosives blew a three meter wide hole through the foot thick section of wall. The loudness of the explosion was on the order of several hundred decibels. Neville felt the impact of the shock wave on his chest. The GIGN members rushed through the hole. Neville followed suit.

Tomo had been unprepared for the explosion. When it had gone off she had been trading shots with one of Leroy's hired guns. The blast had made her jump. But luckily it had knocked the man off of a thirty foot drop. He wouldn't be a problem anymore. And a few 5.56mm NATOs helped make sure of that.

Tomo quickly reloaded her HK 416. She turned around to see the huge hole that had been blown through the wall. She ran through the "doorway" that the demolitions members had created. Inside of the inner wall she saw that the situation had turned dire.

The three GIGN teams combined made up approximately sixty individuals. It had taken six armored vehicles to transport them here. Now that the teams were inside of the outer wall they could engage the suspects more easily. Or at least until two machinegun nests had opened up on the second story. They fired off rounds at the GIGN team. Troopers were being torn apart by the sheer strength of the .50 caliber HMGs.

"_This is Barracuda_," Tomo heard her radio crackle to life. It was the Fennec utility helicopter! "_We are launching TOWs in three!_"

Tomo looked up just in time to see a streak in the air as the subsonic missiles slammed right into the enemy machinegun positions. With their most heavy weapons destroyed the GIGN team used the opportunity to press their attack on the guards stationed nearby. Those suspects that tried to remain behind cover were torn apart by the Fennec's minigun. Thousands of rounds turned the concrete barricades they had hidden behind into dust.

Tomo saw movement to her left. She turned to see a man with an AK 47 fire at a group of GIGN soldiers. She quickly raised her 416 to her shoulder. Switching to semi automatic she fired off three rounds. The man with the AK fell to the ground, red stains on his chest. Less and less rounds were being fired now. The fighting had started to lull.

After a few more minutes all of the guards were either dead, or had surrendered to GIGN officers. The AS 532 Cougar that had been circling the scene for the past four minutes rushed into the center of the courtyard. Twenty more GIGN commandos jumped out of the machine. The Cougar quickly climbed back up into the sky.

What remained of the four teams decided to call for back up. The heavy machineguns had wiped out half of them. It would be twenty minutes till the replacement officers arrived. _And when they do_, thought Tomo, _we get to go inside the monster's lair_.

He sat in his private office. Oak panels lined the room. A small fountain bubbled in one of the corners. And twenty AK 108s sat in wall racks behind him. His favorite M3 sat on his desk.

"So let me get this straight," said Leroy. "Just ten minutes after I get back inside my office, a SWAT team deploys and surrounds the entire area?"

"Ye-yes sir," said a nervous hired gun.

"The security did take care of them right?" asked Leroy, an angry look formed on his face.

"N-no sir," the thug replied.

"Then why aren't you out there fighting?" asked Leroy in a dangerous tone.

"I-I—"

Leroy raised his M3. The thug quickly stopped talking. A twelve gauge will get that kind of reaction out of people.

"I suggest that you go out there, and _help_ the others."

"Ye-yes sir!"

The thug ran off as fast as he could. Leroy sighed. Despite all of the money he had spent on arming these buffoons they couldn't do anything right. _At least my personal guard can shoot straight_, the crime lord thought to himself. If he had to, Leroy would kill all of them himself.

Tomo watched as several armored cars pulled in through where the gate used to be. It had taken almost an hour for additional GIGN members to show up. These troopers were all heavily armed. The trucks had also brought something else that was welcomed, ammunition.

The time it had taken to breach the wall and subdue the guards had been difficult. Tomo had used up almost six clips of ammunition. Though she hadn't quite sprayed and prayed, she hadn't been too strict on her volume of fire either. She packed a few additional magazines into her tactical vest.

Neville noticed his pupil collecting more magazines. She had used up a lot more ammunition than he had. His HK 416 had only fired twenty rounds during the whole firefight, and he had hit eighteen of Leroy's guards. He detached the magazine inside his assault rifle. Walking towards one of the trucks Neville noticed that Tomo was right beside him.

"What's up?"

Neville didn't answer her. He just kept walking towards the truck. He picked up another magazine and slid it into the weapon.

"Earth to Neville?" Tomo waved her hand in front of his face. Neville didn't say anything. Tomo frowned at the man. "What is your problem?" At that moment Neville removed his ear protection.

"Did you say something?" Neville asked.

Tomo was stunned at first. Then she realized that it was just an act, since she was wearing ear protection. Her anger was enormous. Yet she simply sighed. Shaking her head the wildcat walked away. Neville watched her go. He didn't know what had happened. His earplugs had been wedged too tightly into his ears.

One of the GIGN commandos stood next to a loud speaker. He was waiting to give the go ahead to signal. The announcement that would tell the commandos it was time to smash the door down. Seven men had planted charges on the front door. The front wall would also be breached in two additional places. GIGN commandos were already on the roof, preparing to repel through the windows.

Tomo noticed that Neville was next to her. He was crouched below one of the windows. He was preparing to rush into the house. Tomo thought he had just shown up to pester her with his silence.

"Why won't you talk to me?" the girl asked.

"I couldn't hear you," Neville replied.

"Bullshit," said Tomo, "I'm not gonna buy that crap. I was wearing earplugs when I asked you those questions."

"Well I had them in too deep," said Neville, "I could barely get them out."

"I'll believe that, as soon as you believe that I shot that gun out of someone's hand."

"Come on Tomo," said Neville, "This actually happened."

"So did that," the wildcat responded, "You saw the proof with your own eyes."

"I trained you with the .45 for only three weeks," said Neville, "but he just dropped the weapon. Even I can't shoot a gun out of a person's hand. In fact it is just about impossible."

"I usually get lucky," said Tomo, "That was just proof of my good fortune."

"It didn't happen," said Neville, "You've never been too good a shot before."

"If you two would be so kind," said Henri, "Will you please shut up, so I can hear my team?"

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

BOOM!

Neville was glad that he had put his earplugs back in. The front door was gone, as well as the parking garage. The commando teams rushed through the gaps. Guards who lay writhing on the floor were disarmed and moved to the armored vehicles. Enemy weapons were unloaded and moved to separate armored vehicles.

The troopers that were inside the house split up into four teams. Tomo stuck next to Neville and Henri. Her instructor kept his eyes moving around. Every shape could be an enemy. Tomo kept her weapon in front of her. The other officers were behind them.

Plumb, plumb, plumb.

Neville and Tomo stopped. Crouching down they raised their weapons towards the source of the sound. The end of the hallway. The GIGN troopers readied themselves. Over twenty automatic weapons were aimed at towards the sound. Whatever came through the hallway would not live.

"Damn, you hear that explosion?" a voice said.

"Yeah, let's get 'em!"

"Sounds like we've got company," one of the troopers said, "Everyone ready?"

All the GIGN members nodded in unison. Neville gave a thumbs up. Tomo simply stared ahead. Two men came around the corner carrying AK 47s. Twenty five individual assault rifles ended their lives at once.

"What the Hell was that?" a voice screamed.

"Damn it they're dead!"

Several more criminals rushed through the hallway.

BANG!

RATATATATAT!

The bodies of four hired guns lay in the hallway. Two of them had fired at Tomo with their MP5s. The rounds had bounced off of Tomo's body armor. The GIGN commandos took care of the other guards.

"Mademoiselle," said a commando, "you should be more careful. Don't wait like that."

"Thanks," said Tomo, "I'll keep that in mind."

Up ahead the hallway split into two directions. The platoon of twenty five operatives split up. Tomo went one way, and Neville went the other way.

"These guys are too good sir."

"What did you say?" asked Leroy.

"These guys, we can't beat them."

Leroy had had about enough of this guy's attitude. Raising the M3 to his shoulder he fired off a slug. The projectile tore the man's chest apart. His lifeless body fell to the floor. Leroy left his office, walking towards his private library. And it was only a library by nickname. It was filled with magazines.

Neville wandered down the hallway in front of him. He kept his eyes open. Every door that they passed had to be opened and searched. Their thin and flexible fiber optic probes could be slipped beneath the doors. So far they had needed to clear five rooms. Everyone was still tense. These guys had killed four of the operatives already. And only nine of them remained.

Tomo's group had not yet encountered any resistance. They had gone along this hallway for what seemed like hours. Tomo couldn't help dropping her guard a little bit. It was just such a weird experience. Knowing that all around you people were looking for you so that they could kill you, but you never found them. _And maybe that's a good thing_, Tomo thought to herself, _Firefights don't give do overs_.

The two teams did not realize that they were both heading towards the same place. But the enemy knew. Soon the two groups would meet up in Leroy's office. When they got there they would then hit the library. Once they did, Leroy and his personal honor guard would make their move.

Tomo and Neville's teams met up outside the door of Leroy's office. They had looked underneath the door using their probes. A dead body and seven heavily armed men were inside.

Two of the GIGN members readied explosives. The team braced themselves against the wall. Tomo gripped her assault rifle tightly with her hands. She was ready to rock and roll.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The door evaporated from the strength of the explosion. The team rushed in, finishing off the men inside. Tomo unloaded the enemies AKs and UMPs. To the left of the team was a door. The team peered under it. Two men stood with their backs to the door. They held weapons in their hands. Racks of guns lined the entire room around them, as well as concrete barricades. Their enemies had chosen a good place to hide.

"We are out of explosives. So let's do this quietly," said Henri.

Neville opened the door slowly. He sidestepped into the room, quickly getting behind a mass of concrete. The rest of the team moved in. Once everyone was in position, Neville fired.

BANG!

BANG!

The two men fell down. The commandos moved up. Seven of them headed towards a stair case to the upper level. Neville and Tomo stayed on the bottom level. Most of the team started to head up the staircase as well. It seemed as if no one was here. One of the team members stood on the staircase.

BOOM!

A cloud of dust covered the stairway. Henri and Neville turned to the left, Tomo turned to the right. The other GIGN officers ducked behind concrete barricades.

RATATATAT!

The sound of an M60 machinegun filled the air. Two men wielding black AKs appeared on the left. They fired at the largest group of GIGN troopers. One of the commandos fell to the floor, blood pouring out of his head.

BANG!

BANG!

Tomo fired two shots at the men. They fell down. A plume of concrete erupted next to her head. Tomo ducked down. The sound of an AK 47 filled her ears. She had nearly died for the third time today. Her adrenaline was starting to ebb.

Neville saw the man who had almost killed Tomo. He fired a shot straight at the man's head. A puff of red ended the danger he posed. The M60 started firing again.

"We'll smoke you bitches!" one of the criminals yelled.

"You guys won't fuck with us ya hoes!"

"Tomo!" yelled Neville.

"Yeah!"

"Do you see the man with the machinegun?" asked Neville.

"No!" screamed Tomo.

"I do!" yelled a commando, "He's on the second floor!" One of the M60's rounds ripped through the man's body armor. He died with a scream.

"I got one of 'em!" yelled the man with the M60.

"That's the way to do it yeah!" yelled another criminal.

"I'm gonna fuck another one of these guys!" yelled the man with the machinegun.

Tomo saw the man now. She raised the HK to her shoulder. She squeezed off a round. The man with the machinegun ducked. When he popped his head back up, Tomo was ready for him.

"Tango down!" yelled the wildcat, "Do you see any—"

Neville shoved her to the ground as a burst of 5.45s filled the space where her head used to be. The sound of automatic fire filled their ears. Tomo saw another GIGN officer fall down.

Henri saw two of his teammates pinned down by a man with a TAR 21. A quick burst from Henri's HK 416. The enemy was down. Henri looked around the room. He didn't see anymore enemies. He didn't hear anyone firing. There didn't seem to be anyone left but the GIGN members.

"I'm moving up," said Neville, "Cover me!"

The man moved quickly towards the center of the room. Tomo kept her weapon handy, just incase some idiot gunner showed up. Neville kept his back against one of the concrete barricades. He was moving across the room, but he didn't know why.

SMACK!

Neville felt the side of his head deform. The force of the blow sent him to the ground. He opened his eyes up, to see an M3 shotgun in his face. Neville closed his eyes.

BANG!

Blackness.

"ARRGH!"

The scream of pain caused Neville to open his eyes. A man with a bald head lay in front of him, writhing in pain. Part of his right hand was gone. Two GIGN commandos quickly shoved his arms against the concrete floor. Neville saw smoke rise off of the barrel of the M3.

"Guess who."

Neville turned to see Tomo. She gave him a smile, which he returned. The GIGN commandos forced the bald man towards the door. He was struggling against the two soldiers. He screamed and spat, but the men wouldn't let him go. This was the man that they had come for. And he would pay for his crimes.

"Did you really shoot his hand?" asked Neville.

"She sure did," said Henri, "It saved your life. That shot tore away the muscles that would have let him pull the trigger. It seems that you trained her quite well," Henri concluded.

"I just needed some motivation," said Tomo. Neville was certain that in a few more months, she would be a real SWAT trooper.


	11. We Need To Talk

Neville and Henri stood in front of Leroy's mansion. Henri noticed that Neville turned his head towards him. Neville cleared his throat before speaking.

"There's something I need to tell you about Smith," said Neville, "And you're not going to like what you hear."

"I don't see how," commented Henri, "Howard is such a good man at heart. He always does the right thing."

"I used to think that too. But yesterday, I learned something, something awful."

As Neville proceeded to tell him about last night Henri said nothing. With every word Henri just looked more and more distrustful of Neville. At the end of Neville's story Henri spoke.

"I don't believe it."

"You have to trust me on this one," said Neville, "If he knew so much about this man than he must have had some kind of connection with him."

"Not necessarily true," said Henri, "INTERPOL collects data on lots of criminals. Howard could have just noticed this man in the records and called for the raid."

"If you don't believe me," said Neville, "Then let's ask him together."

"You won't be able to."

Neville and Henri turned to see the man with the bald head. He was being brought forward by two GIGN commandos. The man had an evil look. It made Neville's skin crawl just to be near him.

"You can't ask Smith," said the bald man, "because I killed him. Guy decides to stop working for me. So I grab a few idiots, throw 'em some SMGs and we go waste his family. Then I'm in the bathroom. That dumb guy comes back to his house and wastes all the men I brought with me." Leroy shook his head in disgust at the memory of the event. "Then while he's bent over talking to his kid, I sneak up from behind. Bring up the M3, right behind his head. Blast him to bits, he falls on top of his kid. I leave, after torching the house. And I am just pissed. 'Cause I wasted nearly a million Euros on those men that dumb cop killed."

Neville and Henri stared at the man. Anger filled their faces. Leroy returned the hatred. Then he smiled, _What the Hell?_ At that point Leroy started to berate the two men.

"What are you gonna do to me?" the crime lord asked, "Hit me? Kick me? Shoot me? Bah! You pigs are all such pussies," he spat at them, "you can't even beat someone to death. But people like me, we can. That's why we get to keep doing what we're doing."

The GIGN officers pulled the man away, before Neville or Henri lost their temper. There was enough paperwork to do without police brutality added in. The two of them watched as Leroy was dragged towards an armored car. He still smiled at them, sticking out his tongue on occasion.

"In America, people like him die."

"But this is not America Neville," said Henri, "And here we do things differently."

"This is one of those times that I think we could probably convince the government to have an execution," said Neville, "I mean fifty troopers died today."

"Actually it was only forty five," Henri corrected, "But this is one of those times that I agree with you. This man personally murdered our friend. Who knows how many other officers he killed? But he will not be executed. If we did not behead the Jackal, then I doubt we will kill this man."

"It'd sure make me feel better though," said Neville, "To know he's really gone."

"There are other ways to find comfort than just the deaths of criminals Neville. You just need to find those other outlets."

"Yeah," Neville agreed, "You're right Henri. And I think I know where one of those opportunities might be. Now I need to ask you a question," said Neville.

"I will not interrupt," Henri stated.

"Okay, well, it's about the trainee I brought here today…."

Neville looked at the clear blue sky. The sun was starting to set. Ribbons of orange and pink lay on top of each other in the sky. _Today's the day_, Neville thought to himself, _I just hope that everything goes smoothly_.

It had been almost eight months since the raid on Leroy's mansion. It had been almost a year since he had met Tomo. The April air chilled his skin. He walked over to where his trainee, no, the SWAT officer stood. Neville had approved her just two days ago. She turned her head towards him as he approached.

"What's up?" the girl asked him.

"Not much," Neville said, "Not much."

"Alright." Tomo turned back towards the sunset she had been watching. "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is."

Tomo continued to talk to Neville. "The way the colors merge together. How streaks of violet form as the sun goes lower and lower beneath the sky. It's just magical."

Neville noticed that Tomo seemed to glow as the fading light washed over her. _I think now is the time. But I don't know if I can say it_.

Summoning his confidence Neville turned to the young woman. He reached into his left hand pocket. He felt his breath become slightly strained as his hand closed, around a small box. _Now, or not now_, thought Neville, _that is the question_.

"I can't believe they let him live."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said I can't believe they let him live. After everything that man did, they just threw him in the same prison as the Jackal. It didn't matter that he killed people, or that he destroyed entire towns. The fact that he ended the presidents of nations, after all that he was left alive." Tomo shook her head. "I just can't understand it."

"Some fates are worse than death," said Neville, "And I can think of one of those fates right now." _Do it now! Don't lose this chance_. Neville looked at the setting sun. For thousands of years the sun had given confidence to man. It did this once again.

"Tomo," Neville began, "There's something I've been meaning to ask you…." He pulled the little black box out of his pocket. "And I need to ask you today…."


	12. When Is Love?

Neville sat on a bench. He rolled the little black box in his hands. The ring still inside it. _Rejected again. That makes this 0 for two._

The conversation he had with Tomo was still fresh in his mind. The scene was vivid. He could still hear the words.

"It's too soon," Tomo had said.

"Why?" Neville had asked.

"I'm still in my twenties," the wildcat had replied, "I still want to see more of life."

"Trust me," he had told her, "There isn't much more to see in life. I've had enough of it to know that."

"Well I haven't," the girl retorted, "And all I said was that it's too soon."

"Then when?" he'd asked her, "When is a good time?"

"Could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be never. Who knows when love is?"

"Just any time other than today right?" Neville had felt pissed at her then. He couldn't believe it even now.

But the hurt look on her face had ended his scowl. He just nodded his head. She started talking to him again.

"I promise, one day, just not today."

"I can wait," Neville told her, "Just don't take too long."

"I won't," Tomo had replied, "Anyways I'm going back to Tokyo."

"Why?"

"I was offered a spot on the Special Assault Team," said Tomo, "It'll give me a chance to see my family."

"My family is dead," said Neville, "So you need to spend more time with them. Even though they can be a real pain at times, when they're gone…." Neville shrugged his shoulders. "It's hard to get used to it."

"Well I leave tomorrow," said Tomo.

"Does that mean I get to keep your car? I've always wanted a nice Mercedes."

Tomo gave him a smile. Before slapping him in the face. She pointed to the Benz.

"Never, _ever_, try to get between me and my car," said Tomo.

"It's a good thing you were so bad at hand to hand fighting," said Neville, "Or that might have hurt."

She slapped him again. Her face had a smile on it, so did Neville's.

"You still hit like a girl," said Neville, "But I'll miss you."

Tomo gave him a hug before walking off. Neville just stood there staring at the INTERPOL office. He rubbed the spot that Tomo had hit. _Why the Hell did she do that?_ _She could have just said no_.

_I just can't believe she said no. Then again we were never really a couple_. Alexander walked out of the office to greet his friend who was resting on a bench.

"G'day mate," said Alexander, noticing the box in Neville's hands, "Oi, I remember that. So how'd it go with the little sheila?"

"See for yourself," said Neville. He handed the black box to a smiling Alexander. But when the box was opened, the ring was still inside.

"That's just cold mate," said Alexander, "But I guess sheilas can bite if they're crocs. Speakin' of crocs, do you remember that time down in Queensland? The time we first met outside of France?"

"How could I forget?" asked Neville, "I had to talk that guy out of blasting us with his shotgun."

"I still don't know how you did that mate."

"It's all in the adjectives," said Neville, "plus the gun wasn't loaded."

"Oi! You serious mate?"

"When I took it from him, I noticed the barrel was empty. I'm just glad the man was such an idiot."

"Probably too much bush tucker," said Alexander, "I don't know about you, but I sure as 'ell ain't eatin' no turtle guts."

As Neville and Alexander continued to talk to each other, Neville felt better. He felt as if tonight wasn't a failure. As the sun disappeared from the sky and the stars came out; Neville knew that there was still hope. _She promised me that she'd say yes one day_, Neville thought to himself, _And I'm gonna hold her to it._


End file.
